Are You Afraid?
by false sourires
Summary: Is the Darumaya haunted? The owners don't think so. Hiatus.
1. Scary Stories

Disclaimer: Skip Beat is not mine….yet… I shall take over the anime if they dare make Ogata's hair brown.

Are You Afraid?

Kyoko sighed. She had just finished delivering several heavy packages to the Singing Department at LME and now was preparing to sign out for the day. It was one of those rare days where she was not busy playing Bo or Mio, and was given Love Me errands. She was happy now that it was done, as the owners of the Daruma had given her the night off. Kyoko planned to sew a new Ren doll based off a spread in a magazine she had seen at the convenience store the other night. The air was chilled perfectly for a sunny autumn evening, the leaves falling in a brilliant array of colors from the President's imported maple trees. In her sweater the temperature was perfect, so she decided to sit outside, enjoying the weather while she could. She took out her sewing kit, and began to stitch a little pair of slacks. This went on for a few minutes before she began to feel eyes on her back. Kyoko looked over her shoulder to regard a wide shojo eyed Maria staring at her.

"Nee-san is that a –a new Ren doll?" Maria was practically drooling. Kyoko sweat dropped.

"Um…Yes, it is…Is there something you want Maria?"

"Hmm?" Maria hummed still in a trance, before she shook her head and shyly looked up at Kyoko. She blushed a bit, and glanced at the ground.

"I- I was wondering if Nee-san was doing anything for- for the Dark Celebration?" Maria blurted out quickly, looking at Kyoko pleadingly.

Kyoko blinked a couple of times not understanding. The Dark Celebration? What could that be? She pondered it for a few moments, while Maria begin to look dejected. Kyoko knew she should know this. Maria gave up on a response disappointed. Wait could she mean?...

"Oh, do you mean Halloween? Isn't that only celebrated in America?"

Maria appeared aghast. Her mouth wide open with her hands clenched in front of her.

"Nee-san! How could you not know?! You are a fellow practitioner of the Dark Ways! All Hallows Eve…The Day of the Dead, is our day. The day when all our spells are at their most powerful!"

Kyoko sweat dropped. She thought she could recall this from one of her books… The fall equinox when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest. Curses were especially effective during these times. Kyoko stared at her doll basket, a slow feral grin reaching her lips. Oh, was she going to get him…Wait, why did Maria want to know if she was free?

"Silly me, I guess it accidently slipped my mind with all the works I've been doing lately. I apologize, but was there something you wanted Maria?"

Kyoko smiled softly as Maria looked up again hopeful . She could see the excitement Maria was feeling.

"Well, I, um, I wanted to know if maybe Nee-san would like to celebrate it with me if she wasn't too busy…."

Maria looked at the ground again. Kyoko's smile widened. She loved spending time with Maria, it was always so much fun. Plus, she didn't think the eight year old asked for enough. Kyoko could relate, she had missed a lot in her childhood to afraid to ask for anything.

"No, I'm not busy that day. What did you have in mind?"

Maria adoringly gazed at Kyoko, ready to burst with excitement. Her Nee-san was the best. She started to blush again when she realized she hadn't thought of anything. She hadn't wanted to get her hopes up in case Nee-san was busy.

"I thought we could- um, make some human shaped candles and make wishes, or create voodoo dolls…."

Kyoko pondered this, looking at a hopeful Maria. That didn't seem…interesting enough.

"I don't know. What do people usually do on Halloween?" Kyoko asked dubbing it by its more popular name. She tried to recall what people did on Halloween from her English class. Maria seemed to know from the way she was shaking her head.

"No, only kids dress up in costumes and ask for candy! How about a séance?"

Oh, that's right. Kids dressed up in silly costumes and went around to people's houses asking for candy. If they didn't get any they would plays tricks on the houses, like toilet paper in the trees. Wait… a holiday where people wear costumes….sweat dropping, Kyoko made a nervous smile.

"Maria…the President isn't throwing some outlandish party for this, is he?"

Maria's face immediately became sour. She nodded gravely.

"Yes, but he's making it a Mexican Day of the Dead celebration where you honor your dead family instead. I don't want to go….I'd rather celebrate the horror part of it."

Kyoko frowned. She understood why Maria had asked to celebrate with her; she didn't want to think about her mother. It was the same reason Maria acted overly mature to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating. What could they do? Maria was looking depressed again. The horror aspects, so Maria wanted to do something scary….

"Eureka!"

Maria was startled by her Nee-san's outburst. Kyoko was now standing up excited.

"Maria. Let's tell scary stories! We could hold it in a separate room from the President's party, and whatever guests wanted to could come and listen to the horror stories."

Maria stared wide eyed at her Nee-san. Kyoko was right, that would be a lot of fun.

"I like that, but what about Grandfather? If he knows about this he will just interfere and make a big deal out of it."

Kyoko just shook her head at the skeptical little girl.

"No, don't you see we could use that to our advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if President gets involved we'll just tell him we want to host that part, so he won't interfere with our stories, but he will mess with the setting, which means we'll have a really scary place to tell the stories. Won't that be great?!"

Maria still was not sure about it, but she couldn't spoil the older girl's enthusiasm. Maybe it would be alright.

"Okay, who should we invite?"

"What stories do we tell?"

The two girls looked at each other and smiled, ready to plan the event in front of them. They would only have a week before their party commenced.

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Thanks For Reading!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter it is in honor of Halloween. It starts to take a Tales of the Crypt crossover after this chapter. I'm hoping to update everyday finishing on Halloween.

Thanks to all those that reviewed Connections, you helped me convince myself to write this! And **Miyabitayozora** for agreeing to edit!

Please Review!

Thanks,

False Sourires


	2. Spirits

Are You Afraid?

Taisho - owner of the Daramu

Okaa-san - owner's wife

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The Darumaya was packed. Loyal customers chattering about their days, commiserating about families and work. They came there to forget their worries, as Okaa-san did her best to distract and entertain them, even Taisho's seriousness was comforting to them. The two always succeeded in their task, that is, until today. The customers felt something was off but they couldn't put their fingers on it. Unable to shake the annoyance anymore, one of the regulars asked,

"Hey, is something going on? I feel like something has changed in here."

Taisho looked up at him, while Okaa-san came over and joked,

"I'm sorry Mamue. Here let me get you your third sake, I apologize for being late with it tonight."

At that several other customers laughed. Another customer spoke up,

"No seriously something is off. "

There was a small murmur of agreement at that.

"Oh, no. I don't think anything is off."

Okaa-san responded trying to keep the discontent from spreading. Her attempt was soon ruined by a noisy college student.

"Must be the spirit trying to drive us away."

The gaki managed to grab the attention of the customers, who quietly asked each other what they boy meant.

"Huh? Whay'ya mean?"

"Haven't any of you heard the rumors?" The arrogant boy didn't even wait for an answer to his question before he answered it himself. "For the last year it's been the talk of the neighborhood. Apparently, there is a spirit running around in the middle of the night causing trouble, scaring people maybe even attacking them."

"Really-"

"What do you-"

"Has anyone-"

Everyone begin chattering, their curiosities peeked. They felt it was all very exciting.

"Okaa-san, did you know about the spirit?"

"I have heard rumors, but seriously I doubt it. No harm has come to us, or anyone else in the neighborhood. I am sure it's just a kid trying to seek some attention."

Okaa-san smiled politely, going to grab some more oolong tea, waving off the rumors. The customers just nodded, seeing the sense in what she said. The young man noticed this and started speaking again.

"Then what do you have to say about Rame-san claiming he saw a ghost wondering around screeching in front of Yosowara Convenience Center? They found broken glass and large scratch marks the next morning…"

He smirked as the gossip started up again, everyone alarmed. Okaa-san let out a sigh.

"That was a cat. I know it seems really unlikely but it is true. The police that checked it out came here to get coffee and were laughing about it."

She smiled, setting down a fresh sake in front of Mamue.

"Ah, but Okaa-san, don't you worry that ghosts might come try to haunt you?"

Okaa-san stopped her bustling, and stood still. She raised her hand to her face and let her other one point towards Taisho, much like a lovesick teenage girl.

"No. I have Taisho here to protect me."

The customers all observed her actions slowly moving their gaze to a stern no nonsense Taisho fully garbed in his chef garments large sharp cleaver in hand. They gulped. Some bit their lips. It was very difficult to not start laughing, but they couldn't help but imagine a ghost coming to the Darumaya to scare Taisho. No, it would definitely be the ghost running away not the other way around.

**GHOULS**

Hehehe.

Stomp. STOmp. STOMp. Smash. Shrip, shrip.

Hehehehehehehehehe.

Eyes wide open, Okaa-san stared at the dull brown wood ceiling. Next to her, her husband Taisho also had his eyes wide open. Both were perfectly stationary, not moving a centimeter even to breathe.

Whimper. Whimper.

HOOWWWLLLL.

The cry more a banshees sob than a wolf's song.

"I wonder what that girl is doing in her room?"

"Hn"

This was beginning to be a regular occurrence, once every two weeks or so Kyoko would stay up late talking to someone. It would start out quietly then slowly escalate into this odd screeching match. It was so strange though, Okaa-san always went to say good night to Kyoko but she would never see anyone, but she could always hear another person talking. Oh well, Kyoko was a good girl so she and Taisho didn't have to worry. It was at times like this that the ghost stories the customers were spouting at dinner plagued her, but of course, she knew better.

Sigh.

"I think I'll take tea with Sinei-san. She would like to hear about the ghost rumors my customers were spreading last night. I'll let it slip that one came by in the morning claiming he saw the spirit wandering around afterwards."

Why should she fear spirits? She and Taisho were the ones spreading the rumors.

AAAGHHHHH!!

They were really quite fond of Kyoko, afterall.

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Thanks for Reading!

This fic is a bunch of drabbles, involving different characters. Kyoko and Maria will not necessarily be the focus. Last chapter was the prologue.

Please Review!

False Sourires


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